“Every weekend, instead of studying or getting a job opportunity, or something, I was traveling,” he said.

Mr. Bikov eventually dropped out of college, but that is where he met Sofiya Edzelman, 26.

They married in 2013 and had a son, Aharon, in 2014. That year, Mr. Bikov found work as a community and personal liaison at a hospice. Ms. Edzelman is unable to work because she is in the country on a student visa.

In August, Mr. Bikov was laid off from his job. He was largely unfazed, he said. He lived in America, where people took care of others, so he expected unemployment benefits to be enough to support him until he found work. His application for unemployment was denied because he did not fill it out and submit it properly.

When he fell behind in rent, Mr. Bikov went to Edith and Carl Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst, a beneficiary agency of UJA-Federation of New York, one of the seven organizations supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund. The community house used $976 in Neediest Cases funds to help pay his back rent.

The agency also helped Mr. Bikov get his unemployment benefits. He began receiving $425 weekly at the end of October. Although full-time employment eludes him, he recently started a part-time job as a home aide for a disabled child. He also volunteers at Sinai Academy, leading youth activities.

He hopes that by performing good deeds, benefits will come to him in return.

“If you fill up your cup, as the Jewish metaphor says, it will overflow and fill up other cups,” he said. “That’s what I’m trying to do.”

Whatever Mr. Bikov may lack in prospects or possibilities, he makes up for with optimism.

“It’s a cliché, the phrase ‘God bless America,’ ” Mr. Bikov said. “But absolutely, I can never get enough of it, or stop being excited over it, the possibilities people have in this country.”